Columbia College names new provost

June 28, 2001|By CHICAGO

Columbia College, which has been buffeted by academic squabbles in the past few months, on Wednesday announced the appointment of Steven Kapelke, an administrator at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, to provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Kapelke, 54, said he didn't know enough about the feud between two departments teaching science to comment on it. He also declined comment on the controversial appointment of a journalist as dean of media arts that led to the resignation of the journalism chair.

But he said he planned to meet with journalism faculty members soon to talk about filling the vacant position and other issues. The journalist who had been offered the dean post turned it down after widespread publicity about accusations of fabricating stories.

Kapelke, who will assume the post Aug. 1, said faculty contentiousness "doesn't lessen their commitment for the school. Sometimes it comes from their passion" for their jobs.